Breakups Are Hard

I feel like crap today. I'm going through a breakup and it's been rough. Me and coffee have had a love/hate relationship for a while now. It wasn't love at first sight although, it did give me jitters every time I got a little ;P But now, the love is gone. It's been doing me wrong, causing me major pain in the heart, throat and gut. Why, oh why does it have to be this way? I tried to get together with it's lesser version - Trader Joe's French Roast Low Acid. We liked each other at first, but it turned out to be just like all the others. So, I must breakup with coffee. It seems necessary. My body is achy and yearning for it, but I have to let it go. *sigh* Parting is such sweet sorrow...



This morning, I had...tea...





I added some milk, no sweetener. It was a milked-up mate...

It sucked.

I was really in the mood for eggs today. A real whole egg. Heck, I can't have coffee, so I might as well enjoy something! I served it over a piece of Trader Joe's Organic Spelt Bread (toasted)...

I still wanted something more. I was feeling hungry right off the bat today. I decided on a pack of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds...

These are great and had just the right amount of crunch that I was looking for...

I putzed around all morning having my own" farewell to coffee "pity party. I finally decided to head to the basement for a workout. I didn't feel up to any running/elliptical since my hips are still sore. Getting old sucks burnt coffee grinds ;P Anyway, I decided to do weights and ab work. It was a nice, no hip-impact 30 minute workout.

When lunch time rolled around, I was ready for it! I really wanted pasta and heck, since I'm not having coffee, I might as well have something I really want! I made my own boxed-style mac and cheese using 2 oz. Ronzoni Smart Taste elbow macaroni, 2 tbsp. natural cheese powder (bought this in a bulk foods store) and a few tbsp. milk. I cooked up a batch of fresh mixed veggies to go with it...

cheesy...like me...

Unfortunately, today was not a day of listening to my body. My body wanted coffee, but instead it got lots of snacky snacks. I just wanted to feel full today. Satisfied didn't seem good enough. So, I munched on a pretzel...

Then more pretzels (x3!!!) coated in chocolate! Heck, if I can't have coffee...

I had to lie down after that. The daughters and I cuddled up and watched some bad TV (Wife Swap).

I had no big plans for dinner, so everyone agreed on breakfast for dinner. I made cheese omelettes with a side salad. Eggscellent...

I did get a small burst of energy for some house cleaning after dinner. That's a little better! Maybe this breakup won't be so bad after all =)

I leave you with a Question of the Day: What do you drink- coffee or tea?

Baby Steps

Toward the end of my superfunk, I started to feel at my wit's end with respect to how to go about losing the rest of this weight. I tried to get back to my Weight Watchers roots, everyday, pulling out my journal, ready to write down everything I ate and count up the POINTS. This had always been my "ace in the hole". Accountability in this way was key for me and I knew that anytime I wasn't journaling, I was most likely straying from the program. But, as hard as I tried to go back to the tools that I alway relied on, it wasn't working for me. I couldn't get a handle on it. Then, I thought I would try out the "non-counting" alternative of the Weight Watchers program (Momentum), but, again, there was that list of foods to choose from. I felt so lost and anxious. I knew I had to get my eating under control and back on track, but the insecurity I was feeling was overwhelming me.

After much reflection, I decided to let myself trust. Trust that I can make healthy food choices, trust that I can eat enough to make me feel satisfied, trust my body to give me the right cues and trust that I won't eat a pan of brownies because I "shouldn't" have had them to begin with. Trust that no foods should be off limits, IF I TRULY wanted them.

I started out last Tuesday with this new process. I knew this would not be an overnight epiphany. Baby steps. That's what I kept reminding myself everyday. It will take some time to undo a lifetime of The Dieting Mind, but so far my body is responding well and my mind feels liberated.

Bread + Cheese

It was way hot this morning. Too hot for an outdoor run. I hit the treadmill and planned on running 30 minutes, but got into such a good groove, I pushed it to 40 minutes. I could've run longer, but the daughters were clamoring for some breakfast!

I made myself a slice of Trader Joe's Organic Spelt Bread topped with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light and a beautious plum ...

Then, the daughters and I hopped in the car, cranked up the AC and headed out to forage for some school supplies. We all became hungry and cranky (lots of "Ouch - Quit It's and "She's Stepping, Poking, Talking to Me's"). Ugh. I needed food! I decided to use up some of the leftover salad from last night's dinner. I added some sauteed shrimp, put it over some baby spinach and topped it with a sprinkle of parmesan. I loved all the tastes...

Even though this salad was filling, I still felt like I wanted something. I sat for a bit, to see if it would pass. I think I made it to the halfway mark and decided that I would take a small handful of cheese crackers...

But, I only ended up eating half the handful. As I was eating them, I enjoyed the first few, then realized that I didn't need anymore, so I put the rest back! Whoa, that has never happened before! A small step showing that if you listen, your bod will let you know when it's had enough.

The rest of the afternoon was a joyous event of grocery shopping with the cranky people. Is it September, yet???? We got home late in the afternoon and I was feeling hungry. I thought maybe I should wait until dinner, but my stomach did not agree. I was cutting a loaf of bread to freeze and decided to have a small slice with a bit of sharp cheddar, mmmmmm...

I made up an iced coffee to get me through the rest of the afternoon with the cranky people...

I planned on grilled burgers for dinner; something we all like. I especially love this ground beef from Trader Joe's. It's 96% lean (150 cal. and 5 gr. fat for 4 oz.) and is a great price @ $3.99 lb.!

I made plain burgers for the daughters, but decided to play up mine a bit. I stuffed mine with a slice of Asiago cheese ,sauteed baby bella mushrooms and onion. They grilled up perfectly! I put it on a Pepperidge Farms Deli Flat and topped it with some baby spinach. Gram's green beans were a great side...

So good...

I did a little dessert tonight, too. I'll admit this was an impulse eat. I definitely wasn't hungry; dinner was really good enough. But, the daughters wanted to make chocolate chip banana bread and when it was done, I felt the old dieting feelings making their way to the surface..Should I, Shouldn't I? I decided it was okay. It's okay to eat banana bread. Not the whole bread, to get rid of it so you'll never have to deal with it again. Just enough to feel satisfied. So, I ate a piece...

And it was great and that was that. I don't have to worry all night long that there is still a loaf down in the kitchen or conjure up different "hiding" spots so that I can try to forget that it is there. I know I can have a piece if I want and it's okay. And knowing that makes me think I don't really want it so much anymore. Baby steps =)

Have a great night, everyone!

It's Still Me

Hey, how do you like the new digs??? I have been wanting a custom header for a while, so I decided to get myself one in honor of my upcoming 300th post! Thanks to The Blog Fairy who was an absolute dream to work with! I love how she made "me" skinny; gives me hope - LOL ;)

So, I have to say, today was a good day in the eating department. I got right to working out this morning. I decided on the 3 Mile Walk Away The Pounds For Abs DVD again and it was just what I was up for this morning. It's not too hard, but long enough (43 min.) to do some good. After that, I had an easy breakfast of toast and berries: 2 slices Trader Joe's Organic Spelt Bread topped with 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge and 1 cup of blueberries on the side. A nice 4 POINT breakfast...

I did some organizing this morning and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I was in the mood for soup even though it was hot today. I decided on this...

It is really rich and delicious. It has the best nutrition facts of any other canned split pea soup on the shelves, although the sodium is a bit high as is with most canned soups. But, I love that this is packed with protein and fiber, has no fat and is only 1 POINT per cup...

Along with my soup, I made a turkey and 2% cheese sammie on an Arnold Sandwich Thin and had some carrots for crunch. Not on purpose. I was out of chips! It was still a great lunch for 4 POINTS...

After refereeing the daughters all afternoon in The Battle Of Ouch-Quit It She's Touching Me, I needed a good snack to keep up my energy. I went for half of an Apple Pie Larabar for 2 POINTS...

Then, dinner was a vegetarian delight. I had two portabella mushrooms waiting to be used and since no one else in this house will touch them, it was all me! I decided to make a stuffed mushroom burger. I cleaned and stemmed both mushrooms, seasoned with salt and pepper and stuffed one half with a mixture of spinach, parmesan cheese and a bit of light sour cream. Then, topped it with a slice of asiago cheese and the other mushroom and placed it on the grill until mushroom cooked down a little. While I was grilling, I threw some sweet potato slices on, too. A filling 8 POINT meal...

It was one cheesy "burger"...

Plenty of room for another Brownie Strawberry Shortcake for 3 POINTS...

No Pudge Brownies rock!

And before I go, I want to say a big Thank You to Danica for giving me the Hard Working Food Blogger Award! I really appreciate it! Seriously, blogging is so much fun for me, I love being part of the blogging community!

Have a great night =)

Totally Tofu

I peeked at the scale this morning. I was scared that it might ruin my day. As much as I say to myself that the scale doesn't matter, it does. A lot. It dictates my day. Good number = good day, lots of motivation and general happiness. Bad number = bad day, sometimes overeating and most definitely overall bitchiness. Lucky for my family members, a good number appeared. Not a great number, but I'm showing a teensy loss which makes me feel good about my approaching official weigh-in on Saturday at WW. Hopefully, I can get back to wear I was before this last few weeks of "on and off trackness" :)


After my visit with the scale, I headed to the treadmill for another 35 minute run. I've been really into running this week! I know it's not the best to do it everyday, but so far my hip has been cooperating, so I'm going with it! I've also been going with cereal for breakfast. I'm finding that it fills me up and is very satisfying, especially bulked up with lots of berries. Today was 3/4 c. TJ's High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 1 c. of blueberries for 3 POINTS...



Lunch was a bbq baked tofu sammie on spelt bread with lettuce, tomato and a slice of 2% cheese. I added in some more red superfoods with 1 c. watermelon and a fuji apple for a 6 POINT lunch...

Baked tofu... up close and personal...

The daughters declared it to be Taco Tuesday, so it was tacos for dinner! I joined in the taco festivities, but with a twist. For me, it was Tofu Taco Tuesday! Don't say eeewww! It's great. Really. First, I took 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, squeezed between paper towels to remove excess water and crumbled it in a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Next, I sprinkled 1 tbsp. homemade taco seasoning over the tofu and mixed in. I let the tofu crumbles "brown" for about 10-15 minutes until the tofu dried out and resembled "ground beef/turkey" (it does, TOO!!!)....

I ended up only needing half the mixture, so I saved the other for another time. I assembled my tacos using 2 yellow corn taco shells, 1/2 oz. grated 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and 2 tbsp. guacamole. I paired the tofu tacos with a cup of organic black bean soup and carrot sticks for an amazingly delicious (and messy) 6 POINTS...

Seeeeee??? Not so yucky right?!

I had plenty of POINTS left for a beefed- up (haha) dessert, but I ended up wanting 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream with 1/2 Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar crumbled on top...

That was an awesome 3 POINTS!

So, I technically was able to go without a snack this afternoon again. I did have a couple of bites, licks and tastes which probably added up to a POINT, maybe 2. I tack those on at the end of the day, just in case. I feel like I have a good groove going now and I am happy without all the afternoon snacking. I've been talking myself through it when I feel like I might grab something and I realize that I am not hungry. It's just that whole habit thing of wanting a snack when the daughters get home. Breaking that habit will take some behavior modification and I know it won't happen overnight. But having these last few days under my belt make me feel assured that it IS possible :)

Have a great night everyone!

Just Say No

What a crazy weekend! We've been partying it up with all the graduations, so it's been a whirlwind couple of days. Yesterday worked out o.k. I ate fairly decent and only really caved with some jelly beans and a couple chocolates at the party. Not too horrible, but I did end up eating a bunch of Cheez-Its when we got home. I didn't count POINTS, but I think I may have still been in the ballpark.



Today, I took my time waking up and decided to have breakfast before working out. I was craving a sandwich, so I made an egg and cheese on TJ's Organic Spelt bread for 4 POINTS. It was so good...





After watching some E! True Hollywood Story, I got the urge to run! I headed to the treadmill and pumped out a good 35 minutes. I kept my pace faster today; it was a nice push.





The daughters had some friends over to play and we decided to grill for lunch. They had hot dogs and I went with a Ranch Turkey Burger with a slice of Weight Watchers Pepperjack Cheese. I opted to go "bunless" (oh, how I wish ;) and had a side of the Crunchy Curls, grapes and carrot sticks for 7 POINTS...

Then I headed out to help my friend move some furniture. She rented a UHaul and we cracked up about it the whole time because we are both princesses, yet we were bouncing around in this UHaul determined to show our brawn by moving this heavy furniture into her house. We were grunting and sweating like we were doing some crazy challenge on the Biggest Loser Ranch. It was hilarious. And a nice sweaty, strength training workout!

Since I knew I would be getting home close to dinner, I had prepped ahead with a crockpot dish. I saw a recipe for Pineapple Luau Chicken on Bev's blog, so I thought I would give it a try. The only change I made was to use pork tenderloin instead of chicken since I had some on hand. I threw in some broccoli, green onion and served it over 1/2 c. brown rice for a great 6 POINT dinner...

I ended the night with a serving of Breyers Fat Free Double Churn French Chocolate Ice Cream with a topping of freeze dried blueberries!!! This was a great combo for only 1 POINT...

I found these guys (you know where!) recently and they are unbelievably good! They are crunchy and sweet...

Best of all, look at these facts! The whole bag is only 2 POINTS. There are a TON in there and could keep you munching for hours. Note to self: when feeling munchie, grab the crunchy blueberries!!!

I feel like a wad. A whale -ish wad. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm retaining a small pond despite my efforts to drink mass quantities of beverages today. I need to stay home now. No more parties. I need to be in control of what I am eating, "make" what I am eating and not be distracted by parties where I have to keep dodging certain "areas" that contain cake, cookies, chocolate and candy. Yep, stay home. And just say no...

One more thing - some cool news! The nice people at Dominex Eggplant ,who make the delicious eggplant cutlets that I love, have offered to send my readers a dollar off coupon to try out their product. Send an email with your name and address to : sales@dominexeggplant.com and write "Trim The Fat Coupon" in the subject line and they will be glad to send that out to you!

Have a great night!

Soul Searching For A New POINT Of View

I woke up with a lot on my mind this morning. It all had to do with my weight loss journey. I haven't been happy with the way things are going, or shall I say, not going. If you're a regular reader, you know I keep lamenting about my difficulty with getting to my WW goal weight. I've been playing with those last 10 pounds for months now and it's wearing on me. I was thinking today that you are all probably tired of listening to me winge and whine about it, too! But, this has become a place to not only document my eats for the day. I realize it is a therapeutic exercise to blog every night. I write about my frustrations with myself, my trials and tribulations and it all seems to help me move on and be able to start over when I've gone off track. Sometimes, I feel badly to have you all put up with my boo-hoos and pity parties, but I began this blog as a tool to help me through the remainder of my weight loss, and as much as I don't want to bore you with it all, I have to maintain the integrity of why I started this blog to begin with. That being said, I really did some soul searching today. I was feeling like I've lost it. Lost my desire to keep losing. Lost my will to keep going with this and hit goal. I thought maybe this is a sign that I am just done. I am okay at this weight and I should just get on with my new healthy life. But, I'm not feeling it. I need to keep going, but how do I get the strength to keep going, the drive, the will? Well, I came upon THIS article on Wellsphere that gave me the answer I was looking for. It's not will power that's missing; it's WANT POWER! This article spoke volumes to me! It's exactly the boost I needed. So I give you my New Point of View: There is no such thing as will power, only want power! Spread the word, not the icing!!!





So, I came up with a new plan for myself today. I devised it over my breakfast of a whole wheat cinnamon raisin english muffin with a tsp. butter for 3 POINTS...


Okay, this may sound weird to those of you that count WW POINTS, but I think this may be my answer. I am going to start my tracking day with lunch. I will start off with my 21 POINTS at lunch and subtract the day going to breakfast the next morning. Why? Well, it seems that I really have trouble in the afternoons with snacking. So, I thought if I start at lunch, make lunch bigger and end with breakfast, if I had an "incident" or maybe overate a little in the afternoon, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to only have a couple of POINTS left for breakfast. But, if I kept it the same and overate leaving me only a few POINTS for dinner, that would leave me feeling deprived and sad. I know this may seem like a strange way to look at it. It's mind games. It may or may not work or make any difference at all, but it dawned on me today and I felt excited to try out this "experiment". We know all that matters is "calories in, calories out" in a 24 hr. period, so who cares what meal starts your 24 hr. day, right?


So, I decided to embark on my new plan at lunch, making it as "big" as necessary to feel full. Guess what? I wasn't so hungry today! Murphy's Law. But, I know that the afternoon has been rough lately, so I just ate what I was in the mood for and therefore, had lots of POINTS for later, just in case. Lunch was an almond butter and sugar free jelly sammie with carrots and sour cream and onion rice chips for 6 POINTS...

and a Grande Mocha Lite Frap for 2 POINTS while picking up a few things at the supermarket...

Well, that took me all the way to dinner! I decided on a quick dinner of Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein (split with big daughter) for 6 POINTS...

and for dessert, a Weight Watchers CandyBar Ice Cream Bar for 3 POINTS...

That leaves me with 4 POINTS for breakfast tomorrow! I know it's just switching things around, but for some reason, I felt much better using my tracker this way. If anything, it's at least a fun twist on my "old" program. I'll still be blogging the same way, beginning with my breakfast, but I'll just be counting that breakfast with my previous day's POINTS.

If you made it through this everlasting post, I commend you! Thank you for listening to my rambling and for all the wonderful comments and suggestions. I really appreciate you coming along for my crazy ride :)

Have a great night !

Someone's In The Kitchen

I spent almost the whole day in the kitchen today. Some was cleaning, but most of it was baking! I really enjoyed it. It was fun to create and get my hands dirty!

I started off with a breakfast of an open faced smoked salmon and dill omelette. I used 3 egg whites (got a little yolk in there by accident), 1 oz. smoked salmon and a sprinkling of fresh dill. It was delish and 2 POINTS...




Then, I got right to it. I had an idea to make a "healthy" cupcake using some overripe bananas that I had. Coincidentally, I saw that the Blogger Secret Ingredient Challenge this week is bananas, so I thought I would come up with something to submit to the challenge this time. I have only read about it and have never done the BSI challenge before, so I'm not sure if it's o.k. to post my recipe before submitting it. You'll just have to hang in there til I can post it! I will tell you that I decided on making Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Glaze! They came to 2 POINTS each, 137 calories, 2 gr. fat and 2.2 gr. fiber. I had to have one for a snack. Mmmm. I really liked the flavor combo. Here's a sneak peek...

While these were setting up, I also made dough for a sweet treat for the husband. I used to make him Sticky Buns all the time, but I haven't done them in almost 2 years! So, I thought I would surprise him with this special treat.

As the dough was rising, I took a quick lunch break. My stomach has been a little off since first thing this morning. I haven't been that hungry and almost feel a bit queasy. That doesn't stop me from eating though! I decided on a Spinach Artichoke Hummus sammie. I used 2 slices of TJ's Organic Spelt Bread topped with 1/4 c. of my homemade Spinach Artichoke Hummus, a slice of Weight Watchers Pepperjack cheese and a handful of baby spinach. A side of grapes was plenty to round out this 6 POINT lunch - no chips :-0 ....

After lunch, I took half the sticky bun dough, rolled it out and filled it with cinnamon, sugar and lots of raisins. I made the syrup for the dough ( you do not even want to KNOW how much butter, sugar, etc. is in this!) and let buns rise for a little while longer. With the other half of the dough, I decided to make giant cinnamon buns. I rolled out the dough and filled it with cinnamon and sugar and put those aside to rise. When the rolls were double in size, I baked them all and let me tell ya, this house smelled AMAZING! The husband was dancing a jig around the house in anticipation for these guys! So, now I will tempt the bejesus out of you by showing you the end result! Ready.........

Sticky Buns......

Cinnamon Buns with Ridiculously Artery Clogging Frosting...

You know I had to take BLT's of everything to make sure it was "okay"! Um, it was okay ;)

It makes me feel better to know that these treats are a bazillion calories and it's just not worth spending the POINTS (not that I even have enough in one day to cover ONE of these guys!).

Then, came dinner. I was not much in the mood for anything. So, it was "kids choice" and they picked this...

I stumbled upon this Roads End Organics product when little daughter was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. For the first 5 years of her life, I had to make almost all of her food from scratch so that I would know exactly what was in it, otherwise it would be life-threatening to her. I always had a "bag of food" for her wherever we went. When I found this product, I was thrilled that she could eat something that resembled the Kraft mac and cheese that other kids ate. What makes this "cheesy" is actually, nutritional yeast. It is delicious and a great source of protein and B vitamins.

Here are the facts (click pic for better view)...

Since I wasn't too hungry, I shared this with the daughters. I only had 1/2 c. of mac and chreese along with some broccoli for a mini 4 POINT dinner (served on my salad plates)...

But, you know I always have room for dessert - sick stomach or not! I couldn't resist anymore. I had to have ..................

another Chocolate Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Glaze! See, I was a good girl! No "buns" that would end up on my buns for sure!

Have a great night everyone =)